Voltaire and Rousseau, the two stars of the Enlightenment, once fought side by side and felt sorry for each other, but in the end they could not avoid falling into the trap of the literati, attacking insults, vicious words, and breaking off righteousness, and jointly staged a farce in the history of philosophy.
There have been reports that a couple studying philosophy abroad, because one is a Hegelian and the other is anti-Hegelian, the couple eventually parted ways and broke up and divorced. Ordinary people heard this news and felt that this matter was also too unreasonable and pretentious.
Voltaire
In fact, this matter is not done at all, a man and a woman are combined, and at the beginning lust attacks the difference, everything is insignificant, but over time, reason will eventually dominate. We often say that "the Tao is different and does not conspire with each other", and this "Tao" can be narrowly understood as character, concept, and way of dealing with the world; broadly speaking, this "Tao" is the world view, values, and philosophical position.
In the dispute between Rousseau and Voltaire, on the surface, Rousseau's personality is suspicious and dark, sensitive and inferior; Voltaire's heart is wide and fat, and he is not susceptible to emotional fluctuations. In essence, differences in background, philosophical stance, and worldview ultimately lead to the two turning against each other.
Voltaire, who was 18 years older than Rousseau, was the most prestigious figure in the Enlightenment. Voltaire was born rich and wealthy, and did not know the taste of poverty; Rousseau was born into poverty at the bottom, and his life was turbulent and displaced.
When Voltaire was enjoying himself indulging in the major salons, Rousseau was sending people to the fence to be humble and embarrassed; Voltaire was a personable brother of the upper class, while Rousseau was a small who stole and cheated for his livelihood; Voltaire, a rich man's son, pursued high-level success, and Rousseau, who tasted the cold and warm of the world, loved nature and longed to be respected and loved.
Rousseau
Different classes, different experiences, although both stars of the Enlightenment, their thinking is "harmonious and different":
Voltaire emphasized rationality, attached importance to science and technology and culture, and was enthusiastic about building a new city; Rousseau was disgusted with rationality, anti-technology and anti-civilization, and longed for a pure natural retro style of peach blossoms.
Voltaire pinned his hopes on social reform, and the enlightened monarchy was more suitable for France; Rousseau advocated breaking up the old system and establishing a republic.
Voltaire believed that private property could not be infringed upon and that social equality was difficult to achieve; Rousseau called for the abolition of private property and the realization of equality for all.
Rousseau was a fanatical revolutionary, voltaire was a tolerant conservative.
All in all, Rousseau's ideals reflected the demands of the lower petty bourgeoisie of society fighting for survival, while Voltaire represented the ideas of the upper bourgeoisie of society.
Because of his philosophical stances, Voltaire attacked Rousseau as a "gag clown", the book On the Origin and Foundation of Human Inequality "Made People Crawl on All Fours"; Rousseau countered Voltaire's treachery and could not die. For a time, the two people cursed and slashed, verbally and verbally, and quarreled and cursed the street.
Both Voltaire and Rousseau were leaders and spokesmen of the Enlightenment, mixed in with the "encyclopedic" circle. Voltaire and Rousseau, a happy rival, quarreled all their lives but invariably chose to close their mouths in the same year, and the two of them died in the same year. When they are born, they do not want to see each other, but they sleep in the same cave when they die. Voltaire and Rousseau rested together at the Panthéon in France.
[This article is from the People's Publishing House published "Not Crazy Devil, No Philosophy - The Most Joyful Edition of Western Philosophy (Audio Graphic Edition)"]